Join us Thursday, March 26 at 2 p.m. Eastern/noon Central/11 a.m. Pacific for a FREE virtual tour of the Gallerie degli Uffizi and other major sites of Renaissance Florence. REGISTER HERE. To help you better ennjoy the webinar, we are including brief bios of the artists discussed. Giotto di Bondone […]
Tag: Sean Forester
GUEST BLOG—East Meets West; West Embraces East by Sean Forester
The Japanese prints, so the story goes, had first arrived in Paris in the 1850s as packaging protecting ceramics. The prints attracted the attention of Claude Monet, who hung works from his large collection on his dining room walls at his home in Giverny. Monet was not alone in seeking […]
GUEST BLOG—The Best City in the World to Visit by Sean Forester
Each travel experience is unique, with its own set of rich memories. But what if you had to choose a favourite city? Would you choose the romance of Paris, the grandeur of Rome, the energy of New York? Perhaps your special city is Barcelona or Buenos Aires? In June, Travel […]
GUEST BLOG — Bobbi Speck on Russia’s Golden Age
NOTA BENE: Many of you will know that Sean Forester, classical painter and lover of 19th century Russian art, literature and music, had to cut short his trip due to a death in the family. Sean did get to escort the group through the Tetryakov Gallery in Moscow and lead […]
TRAVEL PURSUITS – Report from Russia, April 2014
A group of 16 travellers accompanied Sean Forester to Russia to travel back in time to its golden age of art, music, and literature. They are discussing Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and have already enjoyed Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. But when one travels with Sean, […]
GUEST POST — Beauty in All Things by Sean Forester
Dear Friends, In the Edo period (1603-1867), Japanese culture achieved a rare level of refinement. This summer in Toronto we will explore how beauty infused nearly every aspect of life, and everything people saw, touched, smelled, and tasted: Zen gardens, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, poetry, calligraphy, woodblock prints, and dress […]
TRAVEL PURSUITS – Sean Forester on 19th century Russian Art
At Toronto Pursuits last week, we had an evening travel bazaar where leaders for upcoming trips to India, Iceland, Turkey, and New Orleans were able to talk about the delights that await traveller to those destinations. Sean Forester, who will be leading our Russia’s Golden Age trip, was in California […]
GUEST BLOG – Why on earth would Sharon Zane go back to Paris again?
Ann has asked me to write a bit about why I will be taking part in La Belle Epoque trip to Paris this September, given that I have been to Paris more times than I can count and that I took part in an earlier Classical Pursuits trip there in […]
TRAVEL PURSUITS — Chicago, a city of big shoulders
“Once you’ve come to be part of this particular patch, you’ll never love another. Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies. But never a lovely so real.” ― Nelson Algren, Chicago: City on the Make “I must confess a shameful secret: I love […]
GUEST BLOG – Sean Forester on solitude and connection in the paintings at the Chicago Art Institute
The man on the left sits solitary. The bartender seems to be speaking, but no one responds (the woman looks at what she is holding in her hand, and the man seems to be lost in his own thoughts). Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks creates a powerful atmosphere, a feeling of melancholy. […]